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A decade ago Benidorm's Poniente area – home to more than 20 skyscrapers – was an undeveloped green area
Skyscrapers rising at a frenetic pace in Benidorm's Poniente area have completely transformed the coastal resort's skyline over the last 10 years, with high-rise residential buildings of more that 20 storeys going up at a rapid pace.
A decade ago, the Poniente partial plan was just a project on paper earmarked for tens of thousands of square metres of green landscape in which only a few billboards announced future projects that had still to come to fruition.
One project beseiged by problems was the now infamous Intempo building – the tallest of its kind in Europe – which began to rise imposingly in an area where there was nothing around it, and after overcoming a mountain of obstacles, the 46-storey, 200-metre-high building was completed in 2021, 15 years after it was designed.
In 2022, the picture is very different to just a few years ago, with more than 20 skyscrapers completed or under construction between Avenida Vicente Pérez Devesa and Avenida Armada Española, running parallel to the beachfront.
Today, a tourist could spend a week in the hugely popular holiday resort and see the foundations of one of these impressive structures, only to return a month later to a skyscraper at half its full height.
But what has caused this explosion of multi-storey developments in Poniente over the last decade?
Amongst other things, the huge site was one of the largest pockets of land in Benidorm that was practically undeveloped. The Poniente 2/1 sector has an area of 131,000m2 on which little had been built at that time.
Another reason is, of course, the location. Just a few metres from one of the jewels in Benidorm's crown, the beach of the same name, and with a school zone and other services nearby, developers were and still are biting at the bit for a slice of the land.
Although interest was initially peaked 10 years ago, the drive to erect tall towers really accelerated in 2018.
And not even the pandemic managed to halt the construction of new buildings, with the exception of 15 days of confinement when all non-essential activities were stopped.
But the workers soon returned and, with them, the machines began to move the land and what was once a green space is now a fully developed area with finished and inhabited skyscrapers.
In addition to Intempo, in the last 12 months residents have moved into one of developer TM's projects, the two Sunset Waves towers with 29 floors and 132 flats, and the two towers of Sunset Cliffs, also TM, have been erected.
And the list goes on; Sakura skyscraper, being built by CHM, will be 22 storeys high with 76 homes and is expected to be completed by the end of 2022; and a few metres away, the Delfin Tower is almost ready for purchasers to move in.
"Despite the health crisis, construction activity and urban development in Benidorm has not come to a standstill in two years," explained Town Planning Councillor, Lourdes Caselles.
The Poniente sector is the best example: "We have seen how the construction of skyscrapers has grown in Poniente at a surpsringly frenetic pace," she added.
So what is the future in terms of development in Poniente?
The only land that is still available is that of PAU 1 Murtal; a pocket of land of 895,583 square metres, possibly the largest in Benidorm that joins the Poniente and Xixo sectors and is mainly for residential use.
The town planning councillor explained that "it's the biggest one left, even bigger than other partial plans in other areas of Benidorm. An urbanisation project has already been presented in which the construction of 2,500 dwellings is planned".
"This document is already being studied to correct deficiencies and submit it to public exhibition so that it can be approved. Now it remains to be seen how long it will take to see earth moving machines and if it will be as fast as in the neighbouring plan."
Images: Archive
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